Random question, does DH spend the night at the hospital with you? I could see the first night, esp. if you've had the baby near bedtime, but for the second night what's typical. I'm sure if I'm in a room with no bed, DH would want to go home and come back in the morning. He'd have to go find food since the hospital won't feed him and we have a dog too that he may have to go help with (if she's not at the kennel). Not sure why this is on my mind!

Silver - I am feeling the same way! Can't feel my finger tips at all. My wrists haven't bothered me once....has always been in my fingers only. It seems to be getting worse and the splints aren't working as well at night. I would avoid heat because that tends to make me swell more and then the CP gets worse. I have been putting ice on my hands and that seems to help...for a little bit. I went for a massage last week and they worked on my hands a bit which made them feel better that day/night but had no long-term affect. I think at this point the best solution is to have the baby! :) are your feet swollen too?

ajuly, I think DH staying is purely optional - I would say play it by ear. That's what we'll do, but our house is less than 1 mile away from the hospital so if he really wants to go home, he can always come right back.

Sarah - good thought about the thermacare.

boston, I'm so glad I'm not alone in this. It is so awful. Other than my brief swelling on Friday, I really don't have any. Maybe a little in my hands but other than that, not really. I had a mani/pedi on Saturday and that felt so amazing...I wish someone could do that for me all day ever day. But it was temporary, like you said.

I am so ready to have the baby if only for this reason...I would really love to feel my fingers!!

Ajuly, DH did spend all 4 nights at the hospital with me. (NWH also has the roll out beds). When DS was in the room and needed to feed it was nice to have DH there to lift him which would have been hard for me since I had a c-section. It was also easier than getting a nurse every time I needed to get DS or anything else for that matter. We were also able to arrange for my in-laws to take the dogs so we didn't have to worry about that. At first DH was going to play it by ear in terms of staying over all of the nights but in the end he was excited to be there once DS had actually arrived. GL!

Pugs, Congrats! Oh my goodness love the name. I hope you are enjoying each and every one of these first few moments!

Kiwi, Yay on the great feedback from the ERA! You do have some good eggs! :)

KT, Coming right up! Hope you are well!!

Ajuly, Just like Jacon, my DH stayed all 4 nights I was at NWH (C-sec) and he loved it. It's so amazing to see them become dads. I mean, we're moms for 9 months before we have the baby, but they become dads the moment LO is born. I'm sure he will want to stay. I'm pretty sure most of the hospitals have private rooms and beds for the dads. Also they bring you whatever food you want so you can order tons. More than enough for you and DH.

AFM, I told work on Friday! It went great! Everyone was so excited and I didn't get many of the Irish twins types of comments I was expecting. Whew! I also had a great performance review that showed my manager didn't take into account I was on maternity leave last year. Which was a relief! 18 weeks today and I have my fetal scan on Thursday. I can't wait!!! I wish it was today! I'm getting so excited about this new baby - now that I told more people it seems so much more real!

Thanks for all the responses. Twin my DH sounds just like yours, he can't just sleep anywhere. I'll be at Mt. Auburn and there is only a fold down chair, I know he won't be comfortable in that! We'll def. play it by ear and if he wants to stay he will. I'm thinking there is no sense to have him sleep deprived before we even get home!

DH went home every night with DD and he'll do the same this time. Honestly I can't see why he should stay as I sent the baby to the nursery every night, they'd bring her in, I'd nurse, and she'd go back to the nursery. To us it was more important that he was well rested when we got home. He did arrive around 9am and stay until late though, probably 10 or 11. Also, we live walking distance from South Shore hospital, so it was no big deal. Actually thinking back I think the nurses encouraged him to go home too.

Ajuly - Like Trouble, I had DD at Newton-Wellesley and my DH stayed all 4 nights. I had an unplanned c-section, and I really needed him to stay to help me around and get things for me. The hospital brought me 3 meals a day, and I couldn't eat all that food so he would share with me, but also we could have ordered him a meal to go along with mine for something like $5. Also, NWH has cots for the partners (only postpardum, not during labor & delivery)... not sure what other hospitals do.

Like everyone's said, totally your call and you don't even have to decide ahead of time, you can see how you both feel when you're there, then decide.

well ladies, I had an appt today and it went the way I expected, but not what I had hoped. Over the weekend, my feet SWELLED! I mostly sat around with them up, but that didn't seem to help much. Sure enough when I went in today, my BP was up. They did a NST and ran some blood work. Everything came back okay, but b/c my BP is so high and my job is more active, they put me on bed rest :( it's kind of bittersweet I guess, but I have so much to finish up at work! I am going to try to finish up reports from home and see if they will pay me for some of that time so I don't have to use all the sick time I was going to use for Maternity leave...that is the most frustrating part. I will go back now twice a week and on Thursday they are going to do an ultrasound to make sure there is enough amniotic fluid. I feel like this is very similar to what Fram went through at the end of her pregnancy...can't remember what week she was at when they made this decision.

AJuly - Dh is planning to stay at BI, but if he is really uncomfortable I think i prefer he go get some sleep. There are those pull out chairs, but I don't think he will be comfortable at 6'4" as others have said. Someone told us to bring an air mattress....

Aw, Boston that stinks! I can tell you I had the exact fears Friday when I was in there b/c my feet swelled up so fast and furious...luckily it was nothing, but I hope you don't have to stay on bedrest too long or that your company will pay you for your time. It would be such a bummer to lose that time now. How many more weeks do you have to go?

CTS is awful. I hate it. I want to cut my hand off. UGH. I can't even write the dang thank you notes for my shower!

With #1, we had the baby so late at night, it was around 3 AM when we got into the maternity ward that DH stayed. The second night, he went home around 8 PM and came back the next morning around 8 AM. They have these built-in window seats/beds and it was pretty uncomfortable for him so I didn't want him to suffer for no reason. The next day, we rushed to make sure they got all the tests in and all the other stuff they want to do to me and baby and first thing the next morning we went home!

Why bother to stay in the hospital for three nights when you can get home and snuggle in your own bed. We spent about 36 hours, post partum, in the maternity ward. I was also really sick of being woken up ever two hours to check on my stiches. At 4 AM on the second night, I got out of bed and chased the nurse out.

Boston - That sounds very familiar!! Good luck with everything. How many weeks are you? I think I was 39 when bed rest started, but everything is a blur right now!! Somehow it turns out that my employer will pay me for the week I was on bed rest, so I am getting 7 paid weeks instead of 6. Some little known thing that they do if you go out early. No idea how it happened, but clearly I will take it!!

I can not fathom not having DH stay over at the hospital. (No offense to anyone.) I needed his help SO much. I guess I could have called the nurse more instead, but he literally had to feed me water while I was BFing, etc. He slept (or didn't sleep) on one of those chairs that turns into a cot thingy. The second day he left for like 2 hours to feed the cat and bring home a blanket for the cat to smell. At BI I technically wasn't supposed to order food for him, but I ordered food for two at every single meal and no one said a word. The nurse had even told me to order extra food at every meal because I would be hungry in between.

Just got great news from the doctors - my c-section time that was scheduled at 1pm got moved to 8am - thank god!! I am so relieved that I won't be "missing" a day in the hospital and will have plenty of time to enjoy the baby and recover some before anyone comes to visit!

That's great news KT! I was thinking of you today and wondering if you were still hanging in! Hope you are feeling well. I felt like I got cheated out of a day b/c we delivered right before 8pm... but we then technically were considered an early d/c on the 4th day, so it got me a visiting nurse visit which was helpful. I'm glad they moved up your time - you'll be feeling so much better by the time you would have been having the original c-section. Boston, sorry about the bedrest! Hang in there!I had DH stay in the hospital 2 nights on the fold out chair thing - he was so uncomfortable. The first night, I was recovering from the section just a few hours before, so I wasn't mobile yet and the second night I was still having trouble getting up/out of bed and liked having him there just in case. But, I did send him home the next two nights as we both didn't need to be exhausted especially with DS at home.

fram - I am 37 weeks now. They think that he might arrive earlier b/c of the high bp, but won't let me go later than 40 weeks now.

KT - that's great news...now you don't have to worry about eating/not eating.

twin - that is frustrating that DH was not able to be there, but hopefully the job will work out! there will be many more opportunities for him to be there, but i'm sure he wants to be involved.

silver - i want to cut my hands off too!! I have not done much of anything with them today...even typed reports using Dragon speech recognition software (which I am getting better at). I have this fear that they are going to stay this way forever!

So, just got back from my 35 week appt. My regular doctor is away so I saw one of his colleagues - same guy I saw around 9 weeks and I LOVE him. I almost feel guilty about it, but now that I've seen him again (and willl see him in 2 weeks), I am 100% going to see him for the next baby and I really hope he ends up delivering this one. I do like my regular doc...but this guy just makes me feel so much more informed when I leave and less rushed.

And, the exciting thing is that I get to have another ultrasound on the 22nd, which will be 37w1d. Reason is that back when they thought I might have a low lying placenta, it was never officially confirmed either way, so he wants to get an answer. That made me feel good b/c I also wasn't convinced and my doctor didn't seem concerned at all...I'd rather know in advance if there's anything that could affect how I end up delivering this baby. So we'll know the fetal weight, etc in about 2 weeks. Can't wait to see what the ultrasound looks like!

Boston, he promised me it goes away - and that all I can do is drink a ton of water and do anything to retain less fluid/reduce swelling. I'm going to start going back to the gym this week, hoping that might help my overall circulation and retention...and possibly get my weight gain in check again!

I'm so excited! We had our fetal scan today and at the last minute did decide to find out the sex and..... it's a boy! I'm so overwhelmed with happiness (and a little terror!). My little girl is going to have a little brother! DH is over the moon! Everything else is good too... whew! I did have a bit of a scare on Sunday when I had a teeny bit of spotting. But the scan showed the placenta is anterior (implanted high) and my OB said it was probably cervical since my cervix is 4cm long?! And didn't seem concerned. And now I'm off from OB stuff for 6 weeks! Yay!

Anyway, good luck to everyone who is so near - KT, Silver, Boston - so exciting!!!

Twin, I started my registry at about 5 months (~22 weeks), since I will be having my shower at 7 months. I was asked by the women hosting my shower to have the registry completed one one month before the shower so the info could be included with the invititations. And here I am with one week to go before my unofficial "deadline" and we are still not finished! I feel like it takes a while to get everything on there that you need/want, especially with all of the product research involved! It's not like the wedding registry where you just put stuff on that you want. So it's a little more time consuming!

Luckily, unlike with products at Macy's or Crate and Barrel, most baby items stick around for several seasons and you don't run into the problem of items being discontinued if they're out of season. So go ahead and register, even if you think it's too early! It's never too early to at least get the mental list started!

Congrats Trouble, Just me me, first a DD now a DS...Such fun, one of each. I think you are only a week or two behind me.

AFM....big ultrasound last week and I finally recieved a call from the doctor yesterday saying everything perfect and the gentic gesting was all negative. I had to ask about the genetic testing because they should have told me that weeks ago and I thought it was quite a while for them to review the ultrasound but obviously I was not that concerned or I would have called. My stomach has tripled in size the past few days and I have the worst pain in my pelvis if I get up from sitting for long peeriods of time. I have to occassionaly get up and take a stroll. Other than that, I feel great. When I was pregnant with DD I had the worst heartburn and had to take prilosec, this time around I dont have any just yet. Keeping fingers crossed for none this time.

Hope all the new moms are doing well and good luck to the moms to be that are coming up!!! :-)

Boston, so sorry to hear about the bedrest. But you're so close...your baby will be here before you know it!

KT, great news about your c-section being rescheduled for the morning. I couldn't imagine having to starve all day like that. I can't wait to hear about your experience at SSH. For me L&D was fabulous, but maternity wasn't so great. I felt like I was pretty much ignored by the nurses the whole time.

Silver, that's awesome that you get another u/s! It's so amazing to see the baby almost fully developed. But don't completely trust the u/s when they estimate the size...DD was almost a pound heavier than they estimated her at!

Trouble, congrats on your baby boy! One of each...so awesome.

AFM...DD and I are doing great! I feel a thousand times better every day, and my energy level keeps getting better. DD has been super easy since we've figured out her patterns/schedule. She sleeps great...usually 3-4 hours at a time. She doesn't like her crib so much just yet, but she loves sleeping on her Boppy. When she's awake she's such a happy, content little girl; she'll just hang out, stare at me and make faces for hours. Love her! :)